Buckley: David Price piles on pressure for tonight, but says he is ready

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David Price lasted just an inning in his start against the Yankees on April 11, done in by a sensation in his hand. He’ll get another crack at the AL East rivals tonight in New York on Sunday Night Baseball.

NEW YORK — Maybe David Price was putting on his game face for tonight’s nationally televised showdown against the Yankees.

Maybe he’s so locked into his hit-’em-where-they-ain’t approach to dealing with the media that he decided to do a 180 from some of the answers he’s been ladling out over the past couple of weeks.

Or maybe, as thousands of esteemed hardball psychologists have diagnosed, David Price is just being — wait for it, wait for it — passive-aggressive.

You be the judge. When I approached Price yesterday in the visitors clubhouse at Yankee Stadium and asked him about some of the goofy stuff he’s said lately, his responses were mostly in keeping with what you might expect from a veteran big league ballplayer.

Question: “There will be a lot more attention focused on you tonight than there might have been otherwise. You OK with that?”

“I’ve done this for 11 years,” he said. “I’ve pitched in the playoffs, I’ve pitched in the World Series. This is a regular-season game. I’ll be able to handle it.”

Pretty standard, that response. But then came this question: “As for all that other stuff you’ve been saying . . . you’ve just been goofing around, right?”

“Yeah,” he said.

He then paused and added, “A lot of times y'all say it first,” presumably referring to the media. “You hear all that, but it’s OK. Lay of the land.”

Question: Has he grown more comfortable being a member of the Red Sox? (He is 7-1 with a 2.72 ERA over his last nine starts.)

“Oh, yeah, oh, yeah,” he said.

And tonight against the Yankees is just another start?

“Just another start,” he said.

There’s a lot to dissect and analyze here, beginning with the simple reality that, no, this is not just another start. The Red Sox and Yankees are two powerful teams locked in a battle for American League East supremacy, with the winner headed to a best-of-five Division Series, the loser headed to a consolation prize one-and-done wild card game. Imagine the Red Sox winning 103 games and then being sent home after losing the wild card game against, say, the Seattle Mariners.

So, yes, this is a big game.

Plus, there’s this: Price’s history against the Yankees since joining the Red Sox isn’t pretty. He is 2-5 with a 7.42 ERA in eight starts and earlier this season he took himself out after one inning — and after allowing four runs — explaining it was because he had numbness in his fingers. A diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome cost him another start against the Yankees, leading to speculation it was due to the lefty’s interest in playing the video game Fortnite.

And all this was followed by Price’s comments — the comments he told me he made because the sportswriters say it first.

Of tonight’s start Price has said, “I don’t think I’ll be able to go, so I don’t think so.”

That was then.

To repeat, this was yesterday: “I’ve done this for 11 years. I’ve pitched in the playoffs, I’ve pitched in the World Series. This is a regular-season game. I’ll be able to handle it.”

Red Sox fans are free to approach the David Price Salad Bar and pick and choose what they wish. But the trick with salad bars is that good intentions can go awry, as diners pile 2,500 calories of accoutrements on top of their lettuce, brussels sprouts and celery.

In other words, proceed with caution. But while we can all agree that David Price has singlehandedly made tonight’s Yankee Stadium start a lot more important and pressure-filled than it might otherwise have been (as if that’s possible), that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

If he gets lit up, OK, sure, all the snarky things Price says people are saying about him will be dusted off, polished up and given an encore performance.

Or maybe Price goes out tonight and submits a lights-out performance against the Yankees and everyone either has to sign up or shut up.

Whatever happens tonight, there will be plenty of David Price talk tomorrow.